Wednesday, December 17, 2014

At this time of
the year, I am always saying “ I can’t believe it’s already the end of year" Christmas is just
around the corner.

Well, Santa may
not be scheduled to come to little Sho (my grandson, 1 year and 9 months old)
this year, instead, my husband and I invited his family to Adventure World at Shirahama at the end of November.

As is always the
case with training animals, I hear the knack of training a dolphin is to reward
it with food for every successful performance. However, the first step is to
build a trusting relationship by taking good care of them. Dolphins are said to
be naturally smart and playful. A trainer says she just waits for them to get
interested in doing something and encourages them to do more and further. Eventually they try to reward her patience and tender loving care with their good performance. Pleasure becomes mutual. I don't know how long it has taken but their wonderful art of collaboration was amazingly fun and moving.

Dolphines are moving around with a trainer on their heads affectionately and proudly.

A young white bear
was playing with a ball jumping in and out of water, making a splash.

﻿

A penguine was just like Sho

A giant panda was nonchalantly
munching bamboo leaves in a leisurely manner. That reminded me when my family
went to see a giant panda at Ueno Zoo in Tokyo some decades ago. Two giant
pandas were given from China to commemorate restoration of diplomatic
relations with Japan in 1972. They died in around ten years, however, at that time
there was another one. It was still the center of attraction and all we
remembered was a large crowd with the attendants urging us visitors to move
forward without stopping. This time visitors
were few and we enjoyed watching them in our own time. Soon after that I knew
twin cubs were born here.

My cat Coo is very
curious about Sho’s plaything. While Sho is at my house, Coo usually keeps his distance from him and peeps at
him playing with those things in the nook. “When cat’s away”, Coo will play. After Sho is gone,
the world is Coo’s oyster. Who knows when Coo will be a performing cat; counting the
number or spotting colors..